The kingdom of God is near. Is it evident in your life?
Read / Listen
Read Mark 1:9-15
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 122
Q. What does the second request mean?
A. “Your kingdom come” means,
Rule us by your Word and Spirit
in such a way
that more and more we submit to you.
Keep your church strong, and add to it.
Destroy the devil’s work;
destroy every force which revolts against you
and every conspiracy against your Word.
Do this until your kingdom
is so complete and perfect
that in it you are
all in all.
Summary
The baptism and testing of Jesus mark the start of his adult ministry. The message that Jesus proclaimed from the beginning was that “The time has come,” and “The kingdom of God has come near.” The kingdom had come near in the sense that Jesus had set into motion the events that would bring about the actualization of the kingdom.
The coming of the kingdom is not something comparable to a spectator sport. Jesus demands a response to the kingdom. In Mark 1:15, he proclaims that we are to repent and believe the good news. The term “good news” is interchangeable with how we typically use the word “gospel”.
Dig Deeper
Repentance and remorse are not the same thing. Remorse is a feeling of deep regret, guilt, or shame over something that you have done. Repentance, however, is not a feeling but an action. To repent of something is to turn away from it. When you repent, you do more than feel sorrow over your sin, you commit to leaving that sin in the past. Simply put, feelings of remorse without the intent to change your actions away from sin, is not repentance.
Jesus does more than just call on us to repent, he calls us to something. Jesus proclaimed that we are to believe in the gospel. So, when you turn away from your sin, you are also turning towards Jesus. This call to repentance is not a call away from a particular sin, but to turn away from all your sin.
In living out this repentance, you cannot just turn away from some sins while embracing others. In the same way, believing in the gospel does not mean only believing in the parts of the gospel you most prefer. Repentance and belief in the gospel are matters of submission to God.
So when you pray “your kingdom come” you are praying for God to help you submit more and more to him through repentance and believing in the gospel.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who loves us through the Son that He loves and is pleased with;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that His kingdom is near, and pray that His kingdom will be evident in every part of your life;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Peter 2
